Stephen A.Smith doubled down on defending his meeting with President Donald Trump during an episode of his "Straight Shooter" show on Thursday, challenging his critics by asking, "What the f--- are you doing?"Smith said during the show he wanted to bring several issues to Trump's attention, but his top priority was to tell the president, "With the squashing of DEI initiatives, it's essentially had a different kind of effect.
It's discouraged CEOs of corporations in the private sector to be philanthropic and charitable with their money and give to HBCUs because they're fearful it will be perceived as a DEI initiative being exercised by them.""I needed the president to speak out against that, and he said he didn't think about that and that is something that he was going to tackle, not to mention the fact he followed up with a call to assure me that's exactly what he was going to tackle in a matter of days when he meets with these HBCU officials.Now I don't know what's going to happen, but I tried, as I always have and as I always will," Smith said.Smith met with Trump, comedian Bill Maher and musician Kid Rock at the White House on Oct.
15.JOY BEHAR WANTS TRUMP BACK ON ‘THE VIEW’ DESPITE SAYING HE’S ‘NOT LONG FOR THIS WORLD’Stephen A.Smith speaks on stage as he and Christopher Russo host SiriusXM shows live from Fanatics Fest at Javits Center on July 17, 2026, in New York City.
(Getty Images for SiriusXM)"All of these folks that are complaining about me showing up to the White House with Bill Maher, what the f--- are you doing? Have you done anything? Are you doing anything? I'm sorry for cussing.I don't mean to, apologizing to the executives at SiriusXM, but damn it.
Sometimes we do stuff on the air that we do off the air.This is ridiculous.
I mean, it's just, it's never enough," Smith argued.Smith repeatedly criticized comedian D.L.Hughley during the show, after Hughley questioned Smith's meeting with Trump on the "Uncertain" podcast."Why is it that ...